Lit study guides for 4 years-worth of learning in 4 different arenas: High School Literature Curriculum Bundles: American, British, World Lit and CS Lewis.

High school students LOVE gothic in literature. There is just something about the darkness of the setting, characters and plot...

Teaching Shakespeare can be a rewarding experience, and incorporating creativity into your approach can make the material more engaging for students. Here are seven creative ways to begin a unit on William Shakespeare or a unit that studies his literature... 1. Create a scavenger hunt with facts related to Shakespeare's life, works, and the Elizabethan era. Hide or hang the facts around the classroom or school. Then, have students hunt for the facts. As they find each fact, have them add the information to their notes as they build background on Shakespeare. This activity gets students up and moving while providing them a historical base for their Shakespeare studies. Need ready-made facts? Find them here! 2. Have students choose a character from one of Shakespeare's plays and write a modern-day monologue for that character. This activity allows students to connect with the characters on a personal level and showcase their understanding of the language and themes. 3. Make learning about Shakespeare especially engaging with a doodle poster. Have students fill the poster with facts about William Shakespeare. Then, have students glue the pages together to make an extra-long infographic. As students color in their doodle poster, they'll be exposed to facts one more time. This activity makes building background creative and fun. Grab a ready-made doodle poster HERE. 4. Ask students to imagine that Shakespeare and his characters had social media profiles. They can create Facebook pages, Instagram accounts, or Twitter feeds for characters like Romeo, Juliet, or Hamlet. This activity encourages creativity and helps students relate Shakespearean themes to contemporary communication. 5. Give students a chance to investigate one of Shakespeare's sonnet. You can assign a sonnet or have students choose one of their own. Then, guide them through analyzing the poem with a Doodle Poem Analysis one-pager. This guide makes analyzing the poem approachable and creative. It's also a great way to get students to share their poem analysis with others. You can download the FREE Doodle Poetry Analysis HERE. 6. Use a simple craft like this "Will's Quill" activity to get students learning about Shakespeare. First, have them research facts about Shakespeare. They should also find a quote that they like from Shakespeare. Students will add their work to feather shapes. Then, they'll cut out and glue the feathers together to make a quill just like one William Shakespeare would have used. Find everything you need to do this activity HERE. 7. Devote a day to immerse students in the Elizabethan era. Encourage them to come dressed in costumes from that time, play Renaissance music, and even serve Elizabethan-inspired snacks. This thematic approach can set the stage for a deeper exploration of Shakespeare's works. ----------------------------------------------------------- These ideas are designed to make learning about Shakespeare fun and relatable. Taking the time to make Shakespeare approachable can be a great way to foster a lifelong appreciation for his work. I hope you give some of these ideas a try. (And don't forget get to save a TON of TIME with the William Shakespeare Doodle and Do resource!) Thanks for stopping by, Mary Beth P.S. Find more ways to make learning fun here.

High School Literature List - This is an extensive but certainly not exhaustive list of reading selections for high school. This first section focuses on American Literature.

Wondering what a world literature high school curriculum could look like? Curious how you can build world literature thematic units? Are you trying to get together your World Literature pacing guid…

I never really spent much time thinking about banned books until I began homeschooling. I noticed that the books I was reading with my kids frequently ended up on banned book lists. I enjoyed the

These book recommendations for high school students include new titles and classic literature for the English Language Arts classroom.

Looking for the “must-read classic books” you should be including on your high schooler's reading list? Here's a list to get you started.

Teaching literary analysis in the secondary English classroom is an essential cornerstone of high school English and middle school English curriculum. When

Download FREE English resources for teaching middle/high school English Language and Literature.

This 10th grade reading list is full of books that are perfect for high school students. It can even be used as the base of a homeschool world literature class.

Discover the 8 periods in english literature and download and print the FREE literary timeline to use in the classroom or at home.

Doug Savage's Savage Chickens "comics" are a single-frame comic drawn on a sticky note that illustrates the life of chickens whose experiences reveal the "savage" truths of the human existence. Teaching satire in secondary ELA is a high-interest and humorous way to engage studen

Help the learning process with these simple strategies for making studennt thinking visible. Perfect for middle and high school English classes.

Looking for games to play with a classroom? This list of English games in the classroom is exactly what you need to engage students!

In this lesson plan, students will practice satire by creating puns with the name of Edgar Allan Poe. They will take a Meme form and write their Poe puns on the form to put on display in the classroom for our satire unit. Students in middle school and high school will love this engaging lesson pla

Short stories are a staple in literature classes. Finding the right pieces can be a challenge, so I've put together 7 titles all in one place!

A multiple choice quiz after reading is a quick and easy way to check student comprehension, but it doesn't allow you to assess deeper understanding and it certainly isn't fun or creative. If you are looking for more meaningful and engaging activities to use with students during literature circles or a novel unit, here's twelve ideas that are favorites in my classroom and the Common Core standards they align with.

When you’re preparing to teach over 2,000 years' worth of British literature to high schoolers, you’re going to have to make some tough decisions about how to do it. Sometimes, the choices are made for you (i.e. a prescribed curriculum or a textbook). On the other hand, you might have absolute free rein to the point

Dreading teaching Shakespeare? Don't know where to look for great resources? Check out our list of 5 free resources to teach Shakespeare.

Are you looking for quick, simple tips for teaching writing in high school English? These ideas totally changed the way that I teach and...

This post explores the connections between Classic texts and modern texts. They explore the following connections: Lord of the Flies & Hunger Games, “The Necklace” & Nonfiction Pairings, Macbeth & Long Way Down, Night & Between Shades of Gray + Salt to the Sea, The Scarlet Letter &

Do you struggle with finding interesting ways to teach ESL listening skills? Maybe you have an activity or two already but you want to be able to mix it up and keep things interesting. By the end of…

British Literature - One Year of High School Reading and Thinking. No busywork - British Literature High School Study Guides that teens like!

An English teacher’s life is packed, and for the most part on top of that, we are doing more than just teaching English. For me, I’m the yearbook adviser, the graduation coordinator, senior class sponsor, member of the leadership committee, etc. I’m sure your situation is similar. So, when I can cut down on what […]

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If books are a uniquely portable magic, then podcasts are the wizard in your pocket. When you find interesting podcasts for teens that they want to listen to, you will open up a whole new world of literacy for secondary students. Did you know that podcast listeners are 29% more likely to have a household ... Read More about Why You Should Be Using Podcasts in Secondary ELA

Engage students in the history and literature of the Victorian through Modern eras with these homeschool resources and full-year high school British literature curriculum.

20 weeks later and "A Stick Figure Macbeth" has finally come to an end. In case you're just joining me, here's what happened during the past 20 weeks:

Teaching literary criticism can be challenging, but these text selections will help teachers pair critical lenses with suitable texts.

This past school year was a great one. With every school year that passes, I like to take a moment and reflect on activities that were successful in the

The team from The Literature Network, an online community of literature lovers, created a nice infographic that visualizes a timeline of literary periods and movements. Click on the image to see it…

At any grade level, it is easy for English class to be solely a study of fictional literature, but students should be equally immersed in rich nonfiction as well. Here's nonfiction recommendations, many of them memoirs and biographies, that will captivate your middle and high school students.

One of my favorite lessons to teach in my short story unit is the Hero’s Journey. I enjoy teaching the hero's journey because I love seeing my students’ aha! moments - the moment when they get it, and they start making the connections between the content I am teaching and their favorite books and movies. Their faces light up, and faint chatter about Harry Potter, various Disney movies, and other stories slowly fills the room.

Filled with Wordsworth and Shelley, the Romantics shaped our favorite literature. Let’s look at the beginning, middle, and end of the Romantic period.

This study guide and infographic for Richard Wright's Native Son offer summary and analysis on themes, symbols, and other literary devices found in the text. Explore Course Hero's library of literature materials, including documents and Q&A pairs.

Read our free guide to teaching Beowulf, an epic tale perfect for examining the traits of heroes and introducing students to Old English works.

I've written about Teaching Channel before, and I'll be writing from time to time about a particular great idea I've found there. If you haven't already joined, remember that it's FREE, and signing up takes less than a minute! One of the many great Tch video clips shows middle school teacher Meagan Berkowitz teaching a poetry lesson using the SIFT Method - Symbol, Imagery, Figurative Language, and Tone or Theme. It's less than 5 minutes long, and well worth watching to see her interaction with her students, and the focus they have on the poems they are reading while using bookmark cue cards. Close analytic reading is an important feature of the Common Core; here's a tool for you to try out to see if it fits your needs! Besides the bookmark, you are given the lesson plan, a copy of the two poems used, and a transcript of the lesson. If you're a language arts teacher, you're all set to try this lesson yourself, or to adapt it to your grade level! And don't forget to "pin" the lesson by clicking "Save this in my Lesson Planner." (A note: there is a typo on the SIFT bookmark that you'll want to change before printing - "attitude and author" should be "attitude an author." I changed it in the image above. Since it's an open Word document, it's no problem!)

If the thought of introducing Shakespeare gives you hives, think about hosting a Shakespearean insults lesson to introduce the bard.

This study guide and infographic for Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire offer summary and analysis on themes, symbols, and other literary devices found in the text. Explore Course Hero's library of literature materials, including documents and Q&A pairs.

Now that the 2017-2018 school year has come to a close, I am spending some time reflecting on my practice as an educator. While there were some lows of the

This study guide and infographic for Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman offer summary and analysis on themes, symbols, and other literary devices found in the text. Explore Course Hero's library of literature materials, including documents and Q&A pairs.

This past school year was a great one. With every school year that passes, I like to take a moment and reflect on activities that were successful in the